What is the key to mastery? Connection.

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By Andrea M. Winn, MEd

One of my idols, Insoo Kim Berg once said,

“If you wanna go fast, go slow.”

Is this a Zen koan? What is she getting at?

If I think about a professional race car driver, she has spent hours upon hours training. She’s probably had boring days where nothing worked. She’s probably had emotional meltdowns where she flipped out at her trainer. And she’s probably had some bad crashes. What I’m getting at is that she had to develop her skill inch by inch, day by day, through all kinds of weather until she embodied mastery.

Imagine that commitment. The stamina. The willingness to find a way through her fears, the doubts of those around her, all of the bone-crushing hardships along the way.

Where does that kind of stamina come from? I would suggest from her connection with herself.

That kind of connection can only come through slowing down and being present with yourself. I teach people to do this through meditation. Others propose spending time in a hammock. The key is to regularly take time out from your busy, demanding life and connect with the beauty within you – your living, creative, dreaming inner being.